4 Drinks to Have While Watching Monster Movies

!–paging_filter–pIt’s the spooktacular time of year, and the houses in my neighborhood are adorned with spider webs, tombstones, creepy crawlies and other items that go bump in the night. Not only is this chilling holiday nearly here, but it’s also the perfect time to watch monster movies). Of course, you should never watch a movie – any movie – without the perfect drink, so here are a couple creepy cocktails for your next fright fest. All of these drinks are from a href=”http://www.amazon.com/Good-Spirits-Recipes-Revelations-Refreshments/dp/1…” target=”_blank”emGood Spirits: Recipes, Revelations, Refreshments, and Romance, Shaken and Served with a Twist/em/a./p
pstrongMonkey Gland:/strong This goes with any King Kong movie, as well as Mighty Joe Young, who isn’t so monstrous, but who emis/em a giant ape. It also goes well while watching the 1932 version of emMurders in the Rue Morgue/em. And no, there are no real simian glands in the drink./p
pemIce cubesbr/emem1-1/2 ounces gin (I think a href=”http://www.sunliquor.com/spirits/ ” target=”_blank”Sun Liquor/a’s Gun Club gin is ape-ingly good here)br/emem1 ounce freshly-squeezed orange juicebr/emem1/2 ounce absinthe (a href=”http://www.pacificdistillery.com” target=”_blank”Pacifique absinthe/a is the one to use)br1/4 ounce grenadine (a href=”http://\/\/seattlemag.com/cocktail-mixers-you-should-make-not-buy-and-ho…” target=”_blank”make your own/a)/em/p
pem /em/p
p1. Fill a cocktail shaker half way with ice cubes. Add everything. Shake well./p
p2. Strain into a cocktail glass./p
pstrongShark:/strong Da dum, da dum, da dum. Da dum, da dum, da DUM. Serve up these cool chillers when you watch emJAWS /em(the first one, and maybe the second one if you’ve had enough drinks.)/p
pemIce cubesbr1-1/2 ounce vodka (Seattle Distilling Company’s a href=”http://www.seattledistillingcompany.com/” target=”_blank”Rocket vodka/a is safe)br1 ounce orange curaçaobr1/2 ounce freshly squeezed grapefruit juicebrChilled ginger ale/em/p
p1. Fill a highball glass three quarters up with ice cubes. Add the vodka, curaçao, and juice. Stir once (watching for fins)./p
p2. Fill the glass up with ginger ale. Stir well./p
pstrongCorpse Reviver: /strongThis could also go well with zombie movies, but I like it best when watching either the original Bela Lugosi emDracula/em or one of the early Hammer Christopher Lee vampire gems (and anyway, you should drink a Za href=”http://\/\/seattlemag.com/5-cocktails-help-you-survive-zombie-apocalypse” target=”_blank”ombie when watching zombie movies/a). This, canonically, is made with Cognac, but use a good brandy if needed and you won’t suffer./p
pemCracked icebr1-1/2 ounces Cognac (or brandy)br3/4 ounce apple brandybr3/4 ounce sweet vermouth (I like a href=”http://www.branca.it/Carpano-Antica-Formula/prodotti/ENG/M-LPROD-P0009/ ” target=”_blank”Carpano Antica/a)/em/p
p1. Fill a cocktail shaker or mixing glass halfway with cracked ice. Add everything, carefully, as you don’t want to wake the dead too soon. Stir well./p
p2. Strain the mix into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a tombstone, if a small one is available./p
pstrongWhite Spider: /strongOkay, I know tarantulas aren’t white, but I love the 1955 giant-spider movie emTarantula/em, and think that this arachnid-themed bev makes a perfect accompaniment. So, break a little of the bounds of reason here, and pretend that tarantulas could be white, and you’ll have a fantastically creepy evening./p
pemIce cubesbr1-1/2 ounces gin (Sound Spirits a href=”http://www.drinksoundspirits.com/” target=”_blank”Ebb+Flow gin /ais spooky enough)br1 ounce Cointreaubr1/2 ounce freshly-squeezed lemon juicebr1/2 ounce a href=”http://\/\/seattlemag.com/cocktail-mixers-you-should-make-not-buy-and-ho…” target=”_blank”Simple Syrup/abrLemon twist, for garnish/em/p
p1. Fill a cocktail shaker half way with ice cubes. Add the gin, Cointreau, lemon juice, and simple syrup. Shake for at least 16 seconds (two seconds for each leg)./p
p2. Strain into a cocktail glass. Twist the twist over the glass and drop it in./p